After many requests, which have been mainly ignored so far, I'm finally sitting in one spot for a bit, and have access to the internet and no longer have a good excuse for not updating. My 'adventure' began in the fall of 2014 with a trip to "the Cape of Cod" (Falmouth, MA.) where I inspected and purchased a Sailboat. And thus began what many considered the pursuit of a 'life long dream'. It wasn't really - it was just something I had mused about now and again for a number of years. And, I had finally reached a place where it was valid to consider "Why Not?"
I didn't yet know WHAT I didn't know about sailing down the coast, (although I had read a bit about it) but I was sure I'd soon learn as I went, and that was, after all, the whole idea. So, I will try here to not just document the trip a bit, but to give my impressions and 'lessons learned' as I go...
Fall 2014
Day One
Crossing through Woods Hole and Buzzards Bay was interesting but not exciting. there was a good breeze out of the east (and current) that made the transit of Woods Hole very quick, and I sailed across the bay at hull speed with just the jib.
The Anchorage that night was somewhat unremarkable, but was easy to deal with - and it had good enough holding that I wasn't worried about the anchor dragging...
The second day was when I discovered the notorious atomic 4 “coil problem”. While on the way in to Newport to hang out for the boat show, I ran the motor for about 40 minutes. That was, of course, just enough to creep about three fourths of the way into and up the channel for Newport as the tide went out. Lesson Learned: Tidal currents can matter A LOT. I did make it onto a mooring ball before darkness fell. And by mid morning the next day I had a good clue what the problem was - but it remained a problem the rest of the fall season.
The boat show was somewhat of a disappointment and the people of Rhode Island even more so. I've never been anywhere else where they wanted your presence so you could come and spend money, but at the same time resented the fact that you were there...
While attending the boat show, I did get a volunteer to help sail down the coast.
New London & New Haven
New London is where I waited on crew to join me for the trip for the west and south. It was also one of the places that I liked the best so far. The folks seem nicer, there was a dock where I could tie up and not need a dinghy, and they had decent beer that was worth drinking. However,the "coil problem" continued to get worse...
New Haven was the next stop, but it also was not a very worthy one. I had the distinct feeling that "sail boat people" were not really welcome there. There was however, good enough internet access and good enough research available on Google that the decision was made to put the boat on the hard, figure out it’s home for the winter, get repairs for the coil problem, and go someplace warm. The best answers at the time appeared to be Cedar Island Marina in Clinton for storage and then riding the train away. We proceeded to Clinton the next day.
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